(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) The Annual General Meeting of Ooredoo (Qatar Telecom (Qtel) Q.S.C.) Sunday approved the recommendation of the Board of Directors to distribute a cash dividend of 50 percent of the nominal share value (QAR 5 per share).
In a key move in the company's history, the AGM also gave their approval for the change of the company name from Qatar Telecom (Qtel) Q.S.C. to Ooredoo Q.S.C. HE Chairman, Ooredoo, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al-Thani spoke of the remarkable achievements of the company in 2012 and committed the company to continuing to provide the highest level of service to the people of Qatar now and in the future. He explained how Ooredoo has laid the foundations to transform into a community-based global brand throughout 2013 and 2014, to promote human growth and enrich customers' lives. HE Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al-Thani, Chairman, Ooredoo, said: "2012 was a remarkable year for the company. We delivered the strongest results in company history.
As we take our company to the next level, we will be able to leverage our combined resources to even better serve our customers and deliver to our shareholders." Ooredoo has continued to be one of the fastest-growing communications companies in the world by revenue, thanks to diversification and ongoing growth in mobile data and broadband services. Ooredoo has a market capitalisation of QAR 33.31 billion. Ooredoo's revenue increased by 6.2 percent from QAR 31.8 billion in 2011 to QAR 33.7 billion, with more revenue coming from mobile data and business communication services. In total, 81.6 percent of Ooredoo's revenue now comes from outside of Qatar, with healthy increases in revenue from operating companies in Iraq, Algeria, Qatar and Indonesia supporting a record-setting performance in its home nation.
Net profit attributable to shareholders also grew from QAR 2.6 billion to QAR 2.9 billion during the same time period. Meanwhile, Ooredoo's EBITDA increased by 5.1 percent from QAR 14.8 billion to QAR 15.5 billion, with EBITDA margin posting a solid 46 percent.
Reaching more customers than ever before, Ooredoo's consolidated customer base grew from 83.4 million by the end of 2011 to 92.9 million by the end of 2012.
Ooredoo also continued to invest in key operations, increasing ownership in Kuwait's Wataniya and its operations from 52.5 percent to 92.1 percent, and Wataniya and Ooredoo's stake in Tunisia's Tunisiana was increasing from 75 percent to 90 percent. Ooredoo also increased its stake in Iraq's Asiacell from 30 percent to 64.1 percent, as of 4 February 2013.
In addition, Asiacell's IPO in February 2013 was successfully completed. The company has also seen strong response to its life-enhancing services that have been making a difference every day. Ooredoo provides small businesses in Qatar with cutting-edge Cloud solutions, empowers women in Iraq with special tailored-services, and enables customers to send money using their mobile phones in Qatar and Tunisia. In Qatar, Ooredoo has continued to deliver leading products and services, with more than 36,000 customers for the Ooredoo Fibre home broadband network and 131,000 homes passed for later activation, by the end of 2012.
The company's Mobile Money service has also recently reached the milestone of 100,000 registered users, and Ooredoo was preparing for the commercial launch of the ultrafast 4G LTE mobile broadband network. His Excellency the Chairman concluded: "Last year was an undoubted step forward for Ooredoo. However, our aim is always the future. We look forward to an even stronger performance in 2013."
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